Re: LF: Re: 40 years (completely OT, but...)

[Andy Talbot <andy.g4jnt@gmail.com>]

Oh I did - remember ordering a huge parcel of Bi-Pak goodies - items at 50p per bag.  Had to get a £6 postal order to pay for that lot.   Some Si transistors in there  had Hfe values measured using a pair of school AVOs as high as 450.

 

With that stock of modern components,  with not sure I touched valves again, other than in the Pye Vanguard 2m box,  first rig for 2m

 

Andy G8IMR

 

On 15 February 2011 22:26, Alan Melia <alan.melia@btinternet.com> wrote:

Hi Andy another one in a similar vein from even earlier. I had at one time
(cant find it now) an orange Mullard valve box with the printing on the end
saying "Valve OC70 £3 6sh + Purchase Tax" I guess this was from the late
1950s.

Transistors were becoming a lot cheaper by the 1970s. I am surprised as a
penniless schoolboy you didnt buy a bargain pack from Bi-Pak or Bi-PrePack
(no connection to any other firm) in Ware I think. MMmmm Electronic
components seem to be about the only thing that has gone down in price.
since that period. I remember buying a large bag of nondescript uncoded
plastic NPN, 1000 for £10......I am still using 'em.

I remeber an American at a Conference around that time (Las Vegas would you
believe!) saying to fellow attendee "Well we have learned how to sell a
10cent gate..........all we have to do now is figure out a way of making
them for a profit!"

Alan G3NYK


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Talbot" <andy.g4jnt@gmail.com>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 7:19 PM
Subject: LF: 40 years (completely OT, but...)


40 Years ago today decimal money was introduced to the UK  It was half term
hols, and at the age of 12 I went into one of the electronics shops in Hurst
St, Birmingham (a bit like London's Edgware Rd. back then)  to buy two
IN4007 diodes as I needed to make a PSU for some valve project.   Being
my first purchase with  the new money I remember exactly how much those two
diodes cost :   The two diodes were 50 new pence, (which probably sounded a
lot less than ten shillings they were the day before)

Consulting an RPI chart shows about 1100% inflation since Feb 1971 which
makes those two diodes something like £5.50 at today's prices.
The current cost from Farnell for the IN4007 is about 8p, including VAT, for
two-off.

Now,  even allowing for the fact a local electronics shop  would have a
massive mark up on components, the price from a catalogue supplier would
still have been in the  15 - 20p (£1.50  - £2 now) region.

Were electronic components really so much more expensive back then - it
wasn't an exotic diode.

Completely OT, and nothing whatosover to do with LF,  but about the only bit
of component pricing I really recall accurately from those days.

Andy G4JNT (or G8IMR  3 years after the big diode rip-off)